Chapter 27
The snake venom was already eating through him.
The skin around the wounds had gone a ghastly shade of bluish-purple.
By the time the guards carried Charles out of the villa on a stretcher, he was drenched in blood and trembling uncontrollably-
Yet still murmuring, deliriously, “Vivian…”
Vivian didn’t even spare him a glance.
She turned and walked the other way.
It was only through Mr. Chambers’ updates that she learned:
The venom dosage had been too high.
It had already caused severe and irreversible nerve damage.
The once-proud CEO of the Foster Group had, overnight, become a paralyzed man-bedridden, unable to care for himself.
A voice message came through from Mr. Chambers.
It was thick with choked-up sobs.
“Ms. Bennett… please, for the sake of the marriage you once shared with Mr. Foster… just see him. Just once.”
“If you truly hate him, then… for the friendship we once had, won’t you come see him anyway?”
Mr. Chambers had once driven twenty kilometers in a storm just to pick her up.
He had brought gifts to her parents every holiday, no matter how busy he was.
Vivian typed back, without hesitation:
[Alright. I’ll come.]
At Ridgewood Hospital’s inpatient wing,
Vivian followed the message thread until she found Charles Foster’s room.
The door wasn’t fully shut.
Through the crack, a stifled groan escaped-low and tight, strained by pain.
Vivian’s lashes quivered as she peeked inside.
A nurse was unwrapping the layers of gauze from his back.
As the dressing peeled off, Charles let out a muffled grunt.
The venom was still in his system.
Under the sterile white light, the wound edges looked blackened and raw, crusted with half-dried blood-like some grotesque centipede stitched into his skin.
When the cotton swab pressed into the wound, Charles’ fingers clawed at the bedsheet.
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His knuckles whitened.
A near-silent gasp scraped from his throat, as if something lodged there was choking the air out of him.
“Ms. Bennett… are you starting to feel sorry for our Mr. Foster?”
The sudden voice behind her startled Vivian.
She turned and found Mr. Chambers watching her with a pleading expression.
Her face, however, remained impassive-
Too calm to seem like herself.
“Aiding a murderer doesn’t earn my sympathy,” she said flatly.
“I came because I said I would. I’ve seen enough. I’m leaving.”
But just as she turned, Mr. Chambers suddenly grabbed her wrist-
And shoved her into the room.
Click. The door locked behind her.
“Ms. Bennett, don’t be alarmed. Mr. Foster has something to say.”
Vivian stared at him, then at Charles lying on the bed.
A cold laugh escaped her lips.
“What now? Your precious Diana murdered my parents-what, you planning to finish the job?”
Charles spoke calmly from the bed.
“Never. Vivian… if anything, I love you too much.”
He slowly buttoned up his hospital gown.
Then, with a snap of his fingers, the guards lifted his immobile body and transferred him to the second bed.
He lay on his side, letting the nurse position him-
In a posture Vivian knew too well. One that made her skin crawl with memory.
He was preparing for a bone marrow extraction.
Vivian’s expression twisted in disgust.
“Have you lost your mind? You and your son aren’t even a match. What’s the point?”
Charles’ pale lips curved faintly.
“It’s not for Evan… it’s for you.”
“I told you. I owe you this.”
And then-Vivian’s nightmare played out all over again.
The long extraction needle punched through his skin, advance through the cortical bone, and bored into the marrow.
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His entire body convulsed with pain.
Yet he clamped his jaw until the muscle jumped, refusing to let a single sound escape.
Vivian watched in silence.
Then, without a word, she grabbed a chair in the room-smashed it into the locked door, tore the handle loose, and walked
out without once looking back.
She left behind only one line,
Echoing in Charles Foster’s ears long after she was gone:
“Pathetic. Through and through..”
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